Ted Kennedy’s Crib Notes.
Funniest Piece on Roberts Confirmation HearingsPost + Comments (8)
by John Cole| 8 Comments
This post is in: Humorous
This post is in: Politics
It will be interesting to see how this statement is treated:
President Bush said Tuesday that “I take responsibility” for failures in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and said the disaster raised broader questions about the government’s ability to respond to natural disasters as well as terror attacks.
“Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government,” Bush said at joint White House news conference with the president of Iraq.
“To the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility,” Bush said.
The president was asked whether people should be worried about the government’s ability to handle another terrorist attack given failures in responding to Katrina.
“Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack? That’s a very important question and it’s in the national interest that we find out what went on so we can better respond,” Bush replied.
He said he wanted to know both what went wrong and what went right.
As for blunders in the federal response, “I’m not going to defend the process going in,” Bush said. “I am going to defend the people saving lives.”
He praised relief workers at all levels. “I want people in America to understand how hard people worked to save lives down there,” he said.
Other than the long proccess of reconstruction, that is the chore, really. Finding out what the actual failures were among the numerous alleged failures, why they happened, and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
*** Update ***
I assume, perhaps unfairly (I am as jaundiced as everyone who comments here), that this will be a representative sample of responses from some quarters:
Now that Bush has taken responsibility, he must resign. He has pleaded guilty. He has admitted that he was complicit in the deaths of thousands of people.
Haul his ass in front of the House of Representatives for an impeachment trial, and then ask him to confirm that he admits responsibility. If he denies this, he will look like a flip-flopping liar; if he confirms that it was his fault, Congress will be forced to impeach him.
by John Cole| 28 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
The Instapundit has a long post up about how the numbers for the dead in New Orleans now appear to be inflated. Personally, I think it is a touch early to be crowing about only x number dead, as we have no idea what the death toll is going to be, and even in a best case scenario it will be in the hundreds, which still counts as a tragedy in my book.
However, after I thought about it for a second I realized what the conspiracy theorists are going to say:
“That is why the military and the police are kicking everyone out and they don’t want the media taking pictures. SO THEY CAN HIDE THE BODIES!”
And you know someone will say it.
by John Cole| 14 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Jeff Goldstein has a long post up on the levee breaches and why it took so long to plug them (something I find interesting, since it still boggles my mind that the solution was ‘big sandbags,’), and when you are done reading that, go hit his tip jar, as he had to move to a dedicated server.
Also, you can treat this as an open thread on the Roberts confirmation hearings, which I am too busy to follow. If anything interesting happens, let me know.
by John Cole| 17 Comments
This post is in: Humorous
I was reading this piece on Darwin and Intelligent Design, and one line stood out:
So what would Charles Darwin have to say about the dust-up between today’s evolutionists and intelligent designers?
Probably nothing.
Shy and reclusive, Darwin disliked argument. He also was plagued by poor health. In particular, he suffered from terrible flatulence that made him reluctant to venture out in public.
Even after he became one of the most famous and controversial men of his time, he was always content to let surrogates argue his case.
I am not sure the Chicago Tribune has accurately depicted who suffers when an individual has flatulence.
by John Cole| 26 Comments
This post is in: Foreign Affairs
Looks like the Gaza pull-out is already paying off:
Thousands of triumphant Palestinians poured into abandoned Jewish settlements early Monday, setting empty synagogues on fire and shooting in the air, as the last Israeli soldier rolled out of the Gaza Strip, completing the Israeli pullout from the territory after a 38-year presence.
Palestinian police stood by helplessly as gunmen raised flags of terrorist groups in the settlements and crowds smashed what was left in the ruins or walked off with doors, window frames, toilets, and scrap metal. Initial plans by Palestinian police to bar the crowds from the settlements for the first few hours quickly disintegrated, illustrating the weakness of the Palestinian security forces and concerns about growing chaos after Israel’s departure.
Gaza’s night sky turned orange as fires roared across the settlements. Women ululated, teens set off fireworks and crowds chanted “God is great”.
Of course, it isn’t as simple as we would all like, but this sort of report is just depressing.
by John Cole| 18 Comments
This post is in: Politics
Too funny:
Yesterday’s opening of the John Roberts confirmation hearings was a time for historic firsts.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) made 49 first-person references in a 10-minute statement that was, ostensibly, not about himself.
Heh. This is amusing, too:
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) showed exceptional emotional versatility, working a crossword puzzle during the hearing and then choking back a sob while making a prosaic statement about partisanship.
Kind of amusing from the guy who is still waving Terri Schiavo’s corpse around for partisan gain.